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Grizzlies give Thabeet some time posted on 03/03/2010

The Memphis Grizzlies will be hopeful that the NBA D-League lives up to its name after they sent 2009 No 2 draft pick Hasheem Thabeet down to the North Dakota Wizards and made just a little bit of history in the process.

Thabeet, who was expected to be a fairly raw rookie anyway, has had little or no success since the Grizzlies drafted him out of Connecticut last summer, and he is the highest draft pick yet to be sent down to the Developmental League, the NBA’s own version of the minors.

The 7ft 3in giant, who has only really had any success as a shot-blocker and often looked lost out on the court against more seasoned professionals, will be working mainly on his shooting according to NBA Tips, after averaging less than three points per game.

Thabeet has been on court in 50 Memphis games this season, but only logged an average of 10 minutes, scoring in double figures just once against Phoenix in early January.

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Collinson gets his big chance posted on 02/04/2010

That collective sigh you heard was the one coming from New Orleans Hornets fans when they learned that All-Star point guard Chris Paul would be missing for maybe as long as two months in the wake of knee surgery.

Paul needs arthroscopic surgery for a cartilage tear in his left knee, an injury suffered in freak fashion seconds from the end of the loss to the Chicago Bulls last week when he collided with a photographer on the baseline as he went to retrieve an errant shot.

Results of a scan showed that Paul had a partial tear of his meniscus, an injury that really cannot be played through and could develop into something serious if left untreated for a long spell of time.

But maybe, just maybe, Paul’s absence will not be felt as badly as some NBA Predictions first thought, based on the performance of his replacement Darren Collinson in the 109-102 overtime win over a decent Memphis outfit on Saturday night.

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Leafs busy as deadline looms posted on 02/01/2010

As the trade deadline approaches it was the Toronto Maple Leafs who made the first big moves to start the rebuilding of their franchise with the addition of hulking defenseman Dion Phaneuf and veteran goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

The Leafs appear unlikely to challenge for the Eastern Conference playoff places this season, sitting bottom after a 5-3 defeat by Vancouver on Saturday that saw them take a 3-0 lead and fall to an embarrassing defeat with some poor play on the blueline.

Toronto have let in more goals than any other team in the NHL this season and needed a real shutdown defender who also provides some offense – there are few better at both, according to NHL Picks, than Phaneuf.

GM Brian Burke appears to have started work early and, other than center Matt Stajan, doesn’t seem to have given up much in the way of talent to add two players who could be a real improvement on their current staff.

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No place for guns in Washington posted on 01/06/2010

As if things weren’t bad enough for the Washington Wizards, Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton have now apparently decided that the locker room is the right place to show off their guns.

No, I am not talking about the size of their respective biceps, but I am referring to the weapons pulled in the locker room after an argument over a gambling debt got out of hand.

Guns? Gambling? Sounds like Arenas and Crittenton are trying to break all of the NBA’s strict rules in one fell swoop.

Although many of the reports last week made it sound like the new version of Gunfight At The OK Corral, and may well have been over-playing it, the fact that both players seemingly had unloaded firearms in their lockers is bad enough.

Only just over a year after Plaxico Burress managed to shoot himself in the thigh, firearms are back on the sports pages and both players may find themselves having to explain their actions to David Stern, with the chance of heavy fines and suspensions possibly following.

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Poor Oden faces another absence posted on 12/09/2009

 You just have to wonder what Greg Oden has done to deserve his bad luck since arriving in the NBA after his third season was ended abruptly by a fractured kneecap over the weekend.

The top pick in the 2007 Draft missed the whole of his rookie season and another 20 games last season, but had just started to show the reasoning behind Portland picking him at No 1 with some excellent performances, including matching his career high for points with 24 against the Bulls.

Sadly, this means the previous talk of Oden being brittle will reach a crescendo, although the injury came about in freak fashion when he clashed with Houston’s Aaron Brooks attempting to go for a block.

The seven-footer will have surgery this week after an MRI scan revealed the significance of the injury and his absence will be felt badly by the Trail Blazers, who also have injury worries about LaMarcus Aldridge at the moment despite him continuing to play hurt.

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